Japan seems to have managed to clear the lowest conceivable hurdle during the latest round of peace treaty negotiations with Russia that ended Tuesday: convincing the other side to confirm its resolve to continue negotiations on the basis of past agreements.
The Japanese team believes Tuesday's agreement between Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and Russian President Vladimir Putin to observe the 1997 Krasnoyarsk agreement is the best that Tokyo could get from Moscow at this time.
"Amid low expectations for this round of peace treaty talks, we believe that confirming the Krasnoyarsk agreement by the two leaders is a major result," a senior Foreign Ministry official said. "But if you insist that no progress has been made in the talks, that is true."